Snowbombing Launches New Music Festival

Suddenly, Snowbombing has a sister. The annual music-and-madness party, which lights up the Austrian ski resort of Mayrhofen each April, has just launched a new mountain festival for 2015 – Transition.

It’ll run from December 13 -19 in Avoriaz, France, and aims to attract 2-3,000 revellers with a mix of DJs, rappers, dance parties and giant snowball fights. Already confirmed for the line up is Dizzee Rascal, as well as DJ/Producer Wilkinson, garage duo Bondax, and Canadian DJ B.Traits. The organisers also promise barbecues, pool parties, torchlit processions, a tie-in with MTV, and an opening night that will be “off the scale”.

Question is, will it work? The Alps have seen plenty of music festivals come and go over the years, and achieving critical mass isn’t easy.

What’s more, Transition has competition. Mid-December will also see the second edition of Rise (December 12-19), a DJ-led music festival/party in Les Deux Alpes, run by Wasteland Ski and Rinse FM. Wasteland specialises in organising ski events for university ski groups (which in the case of Bristol university can be 1,000 strong), so it has a ready-made audience. Last year it claimed 3,000 party-goers for Rise, and LSE is one of several university groups that has rebooked.

You have to wonder if there are enough revellers to go round.

Still, if anybody can grow the market, Snowbombing can. Last April saw its 16th edition attract a crowd of 10,000 to Mayrhofen, and the company is bringing over several of its most popular elements to Avoriaz, including the Arctic Disco Igloo, Rompa’s Reggae Shack, and Ride and Seek. Sensibly, it’s also aiming at the student market, as there probably won’t be too many of Snowbombing’s core 25-35 year old demographic who can take a week off work, just before Christmas.

It also has friends in high places. Amongst the recent headline acts in Mayrhofen have been Rudimental, Basement Jaxx, Mark Ronson, and Clean Bandit. Snowbombing has said Transition “is not only a music-focused holiday”, but all the same, a second really eye-catching name at the top of the bill would deepen the allure. I was at the launch of Ibiza Rocks the Snow in Meribel a couple of years ago – a good example of an event which didn’t really catch fire (it’s now joined forces with Rise) – and one of the comments from festival goers then was that they wanted more live music.